Make Fake EL Wire (quiet!)

This is just a bit of fun - as a weekend project with light.

What did I make? A wibbly wobbly LED filament strip that easily and quickly lights up.

For *bling* on-the-go! (and safety - stay lit when out in the dark)

This can be added quickly to your:

• bags,
• clothes,
• wrists,
• legs...
• pets - especially when walking the at night - this is a great way to see them
• anything that stays still for too long

Because it's made in a way that the switch mechanism is also how you secure it around something, you can quickly add these bendy LED filaments to almost anything. (I'd love to hear your suggestions!)

I'm using a rechargeable battery so I have a lot of power and can recharge the battery when it is empty.

Why?

It's a lot of fun and pretty quick to make if you have some soldering skills.

Also, as much as I love EL wire, it often is so noisy. This is a silent solution with a super bright effect. Let's jump in to see what we need to make this 'ible!

To make this project you'll need:

1. LED Filament, 300mm is a good size but you can use smaller
2. a rechargeable battery
3. a charge board any type, (I've gone with USB C) from anywhere
4. silicone wire - I always choose soft silicone when making wearables, it's super flexible and soft
5. heat shrink, 2 sizes: small for the LED connection end and large for over the battery end, I buy mixed sizes packs so I always have some available, eBay, Amazon, DigiKey, etc... you can use a home hair dryer if you don't have a heat gun to shrink it.
6. barrel power cable plug to wire leads type of connectors there are different sizes, types, colors etc, choose what works best for your project. I found a 22AWG 0.3mm 5.5X2.1mm Female / Male DC Power Plug Connector Cable 15cm.
7. solder supplies
8. solder iron
9. solder
10. brass cleaning sponge
11. helping hands
12. etc

After gathering all the supplies, we can start our first step. (I would read through first as there is a tip at the end that you may want to try - hindsight )

I'm that person who likes to make sure everything is working before I do a build. That way I've already started eliminating potential problems.

We can check the LED filament easily by using a coin cell battery to see if it works.

• Looking at the LED filament, find the end with a hole in it. That is the + side, and we will connect it to the + positive side of the battery.
• Connect the other side, without the hole, to the - ground side of the battery.
• It should light up.
• If it doesn't:
• try again in case you've used the wrong battery sides, so flip your battery
• Check if your battery has enough charge left in it - replace it?

Now that we know our filament is working, we will start by soldering the battery wires to the charge board.

You might have bought a charge board that your battery plugs into, if so you don't need to do this step.

If you don't have a connector on your battery or board, then we need to solder them. I'm using a charge board with a USB C connector. Looking at the board, we can see two areas marked OUT. There is BAT + and BAT - near them.

• using the holes near the corners on the OUT side of your board (beside BAT)
• start by soldering the black battery wire to the - OUT side
• push the wires of the black wire through the hole and wrap it so it will be a secure connection
• Then solder the red battery wire to the + OUT side
• push the wires of the red wire through the hole and wrap it so it will be a secure connection

With the battery soldered we will now solder the barrel jack plug wires to the OUT connections as well.

We have two wires from one end of the barrel jack wire that we need to solder to our charge board:

• Placing the black wire of the barrel jack wire into the - OUT area so it is secure. When secured in place - solder it to make a connection.
• Placing the red wire of the barrel jack wire into the + OUT area so it is secure. When secured in place - solder it.

With the two wires soldered in place, we have one last wire to solder.

To make our connection complete, we will also need the ground connection to continue through to the other side - when we push the two barrel jack wire parts together.

So, from the charge board, let's solder on a piece of silicone wire from the ground and then we will add it to the other side of the circuit.

In this step we need to:

1. Cut a piece of silicone wire a few inches long
2. Remove a little of the protective silicone off one end to expose the wires, so we can solder these wires to the charge board
3. I 'tin' the wire, so this means I'll add a little solder to it first so that it will make it easier to connect.
4. With your wire tinned, place it carefully on the - OUT ground of your charge board, and solder it into place.

Because we added solder to it first, this should happen really quickly so it won't disturb the other wire there.

Once the soldering is complete, we want to protect it. This will make it safe for us to use, but also it will help to keep the wires secure so they aren't pulled or tugged which can sometimes break the connections.

1. Using the large piece of heat shrink, push the charge board and battery into it like a pocket
2. Important: Make sure that your ground wire we soldered is still outside of the heat shrink because we need to solder this to the other side. Look at the photo to see how I have pushed it through.
3. Make sure the charge port is facing out so that you have space to push your charging cable to charge the battery. You do not want this covered with heat shrink!
4. Using a heat gun or hair dryer on high heat - heat the shrink so it fits into place.
5. Note: DO NOT hold high consistent heat over the battery!!

Now our battery and connector are secured.

We will solder the black ground wire coming out from the battery charger to one end of the filament LEDs.

1. Place heat shrink over the filament and just pull it slightly up the LEDs
2. Twist together the wires of the black ground wire, and the end of the filament LED that has NO hole in it.
3. this is the ground side
4. Solder these two ends together
5. Wait for it to cool
6. Once cooled you can slide the heat shrink over the join that you soldered
7. Then apply heat, you can use a heat gun of a hair dryer on a hot setting

One side done - exciting - only 1 side to go!

Now we are ready for the last step (almost) which is soldering the red wire from the power cable to the other end of the filament LED.

1. Place heat shrink over the filament LED
2. again, place it high enough up the LED so it won't be affected by your solder iron heat
3. Solder the red power wire from the power cable to the filament LED power end - this is the end with the hole in it
4. Wait for it to cool
5. Lower the heat shrink over this join
6. Heat to shrink it!

Now is the final step and the most fun...

All finished - with your battery charged, all you need to do is push together the plug and it powers on! This is bright even in full sun! Woop! Well done!

---------

One little tip after I made this - though I did think about it at the time - but I was too excited to make it!

Test how bright this is with your battery. If you are happy with the brightness, then you're good to go - but if not, you may want to add a resistor to lower the brightness. You should play around with the values to see what works best for you!

To see more of my projects and wearables, visit http://christinefarion.com, follow me on Instagram, and Twitter or Mastodon is great if you have any questions or comments!

Wearable Electronics items purchased from Tinker Tailor.